Rolando Flores

Undergraduate Majors:

Sociology

Graduate School Plans:

Sociology Ph.D.

Rolando Flores

Rolando A. Flores Jr. was born in Pomona, California and grew up in Alta Loma. Upon graduation from Alta Loma High School, Rolando focused on a music career. Rolando received his associate's degree from Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California. After twenty-four years of living in the same area, Rolando moved across the country to continue his education at UCF. His goal is to obtain his doctorate in Sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice or criminology. Rolando hopes to teach at a university and fulfill his desire to remain a life-long student of the social sciences.

Conducted at the University of California Riverside as part of the Mentoring Summer Research Internship Program (MSRIP)

Mentor:
Dr. Vanesa Estrada, Department of Social Science, University of California Riverside

Abstract: Domestic policy aims to continuously grow the economy and expansion of homeownership is a key variable in this endeavor. Throughout the decades, presidents have differed in their outlook to this issue of housing. Their framing of issues plays an influential role in policy debates. The focus of this research is to compare presidential remarks on homeownership under different political and economic climates. The hypothesis is that, controlling for historic context; presidential language around homeownership has subtle discriminatory undertones. W.E.B. Du Bois referred to this conscious and subconscious point of view as “Color Blind Racism.” We analyzed Presidential speeches from the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush presidencies. We expect that the analyzed speeches will reveal a positive correlation between the mention of homeownership and biased language.